Clear Skies

Chapter 6: A Rainbow Born Only in a Storm

            Rahlin twisted in midair. She watched Domino City's skyscrapers rush closer and closer. She prayed for her disbelief to be real, that time would stop, that she would wake up from this nightmare.

The wind in her ears screamed this wasn't some dream. She ripped her arms against her bonded wrists to no avail. Rahlin glanced over her shoulder. Her Chaos duel disk had appeared on her arm as she willed it.

Rahlin angled her hand towards her disk, but her fingers wouldn't reach her deck. All she needed was to touch that top card. Rahlin yanked her hands back and forth, but the zip tie wouldn't give.

She fell past the DOMA roof. She felt every pump of her pulse in every square inch of her body. Rahlin stretched her fingers toward the deck. Nothing. She wouldn't make it. She wouldn't.

Rahlin gasped. The top card wasn't tucked all the way into the deck slot. She bashed the duel disk against her body and strained her wrist against the zip tie. Her fingers reached the loose card.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon materialized below her. She slammed into its wing and rolled off. A glass window shattered upon her impact. She landed inside an apartment, tumbled over a table, and collapsed on a carpet. A high-pitched scream kept her awake. A drink spilled onto the floor, and porcelain cracked on the ground.

"Yes, 911? This is an emergency! Please send an ambulance right away! My address is..." The frantic voice flickered with Rahlin's consciousness. A gentle nudge awoke her. Her eye was swimming. "The paramedics are on their way! Oh, gracious, you're all tied up. Let me help you!"

The pair of feet pattered away. Attempts focus on her own breathing were weak. She swore her right leg was in tremendous pain moments ago. Now she felt numb.

"Here, um... I'll have to move you a little bit. Sorry." Her arms were slightly adjusted to the side. A snip later, Rahlin's hands were freed. She rubbed at her wrists. "Would it help if you sat up? You could lean against the table right here."

"S-sure."

She was slowly lifted to an upright position. Rahlin leaned back and heaved shaky breaths. She heard a light gasp beside her. The environment was fuzzy to her but she could focus on a pair of widened, brown eyes. She followed their line of sight to view her own leg. Jagged shards of glass were stabbed into her thigh. Blood dripped down her pants.

The person sitting beside her was captured in his own shock, and incoherent mutterings tumbled from his throat. Rahlin reached out and set a hand on his shoulder. She was forced to speak through her shallow breathing. "Look, don't... don't worry. It's... fine, okay?"

His hands fell from his face, and his expression relaxed. "Goodness, look at me. You're the one who's in trouble, yet you're the one comforting me. What can I do to help? Would you like a glass of water?"

The way he said 'water' was strange to her. She chalked it up to a mixture of the lack of sleep, whatever drug Kaiba's suits gave her, and the near-death experience. "Um. Yeah, I guess."

He rushed off to a different area of the apartment. Rahlin was able to see more of her surroundings. Broken glass littered the floor. She'd landed on the table and fallen between its legs and a cabinet. A potted plant sat on the granite tabletop.

The boy crouched next to her and held the glass out to her. She held it in her hand, and the sensation of the water's cool temperature affecting the skin of her fingers through her gloves awoke her. This was real, it was really happening; Rahlin had well and truly fallen through someone's apartment window because Seto Kaiba threw her out of a helicopter.